13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time - Brossura

Brooks, Michael

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0385664249 ISBN 13: 9780385664240

Casa editrice: Anchor Canada, 2009

Riassunto

Ninety-six per cent of the universe is missing. The effects of homeopathy don’t go away under rigorous scientific conditions. The laws of nature aren’t what they used to be. Thirty years on, no one has an explanation for a seemingly intelligent signal received from outer space. The US Department of Energy is re-examining cold fusion because the experimental evidence seems too solid to ignore. The placebo effect is put to work in medicine while doctors can’t agree whether it even exists.

In an age when science is supposed to be king, scientists are beset by experimental results they simply can’t explain. But, if the past is anything to go by, these anomalies contain the seeds of future revolutions. While taking readers on an entertaining tour d’horizon of the strangest of scientific findings – involving everything from our lack of free will to Martian methane that offers new evidence of life on the planet – Michael Brooks argues that the things we don’t understand are the key to what we are about to discover.

This mind-boggling but entirely accessible survey of the outer limits of human knowledge is based on a short article by Michael Brooks for New Scientist magazine. It became the sixth most circulated story on the internet in 2005, and provoked widespread comment and compliments (Google “13 things that do not make sense” to see).

Michael Brooks has now dug deeply into those mysteries, with extraordinary results.
From the Hardcover edition.

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Recensione

“This elegantly written, meticulously researched and thought-provoking book provides a window into how science actually works, and is sure to spur intense debate.”
— New Scientist

“Fascinating.... Brooks expertly works his way through ... hotly debated quandaries in a smooth, engaging writing style reminiscent of Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould.”
— The New York Times

“You will be amazed and astonished you when you learn that science has been unable to come up with a working definition of life, why death should happen at all, why sex is necessary, or whether cold fusion is a hoax or one of the greatest breakthroughs of all time.”
— Richard Ellis, author of The Empty Ocean
From the Hardcover edition.

L'autore

Michael Brooks, who holds a PhD in quantum physics, is an editor at New Scientist. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Independent, Observer, Times Higher Educational Supplement, and even Playboy. He is a regular speaker and debate chair at the Science Festival in Brighton, UK.
From the Hardcover edition.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Anchor Canada
• Data di pubblicazione: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0385664249
• ISBN 13: 9780385664240
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 256